Last month, my team and I worked in the town of Draganesti-Olt, Romania. It’s about 10,000 people, and a good chunk of those people are what we often call Gypsies (but are really the Roma people). Only a very, very small percentage of the population is Christian. Eastern Orthodoxy is popular, as is witchcraft, in this area.
In a place with so much darkness, I was surprised to find so much joy here every day in the group of people I focused on this month: KIDS!
My team was originally assigned to work with the local missionaries that work with our host, but one afternoon I volunteered to help one of them plan a schedule for a kids’ program that would take place in July. Then found out I sort of unknowingly volunteered to do kids’ ministry almost every day from then on.
On every day of ministry except maybe two or three, I worked with kids. Tuesday through Friday (on the days I worked), I went to the kids’ after school club hosted by the church we partnered with this month: Hope Church. We played games, we did crafts, we sang songs, I helped the kids with their homework (when I could understand, since they speak Romanian), and we just had fun together every day. At the beginning of the month, I was kind of stressed about doing so much kids stuff, but by the end of the month, I was still having just as much fun.
There was one particular Saturday where a wrench was thrown into my plans for ministry. The plan was to work in the church office for the afternoon since it was the weekend and there was no kids’ club, and during our lunch hour our ministry host said he actually needed three people to do kids’ ministry that afternoon. I was not critical to the office work, so I had to agree to help out. I had really been looking forward to having a day away from the kids (I love kids, but they definitely overwhelm me sometimes), and now that was gone.
I was definitely frustrated, and when it was time to head out the door, all that got me moving was the hope and expectation that this happened for a reason. RJ and Kayla, the squad leaders that were placed with my team for the month, and I went with Vera, a missionary that does kids’ outreach, to do some things with neighborhood kids. We walked around and gathered them up, and met at the small outdoor soccer stadium nearby. We played some soccer, which was super fun because a lot of the kids are actually really good and run like the wind. Then we put on a skit for them about friendship and how Jesus is our friend, and we sang some songs and danced together.
Next, we walked to a different neighborhood and sang and danced with kids in the middle of a dirt road. Then we played some Red Light, Green Light, one of their favorite games, and some Rasca, Rasca, Guzca (Duck, Duck, Goose).
Then there was a boy who walked up with a soccer ball, and didn’t really want to play any of the games. So I played keep-away with him instead!
I had started that afternoon of ministry really struggling with my plans being changed at the last minute. But that was honestly one of my favorite days from last month.
That was just a perfect example of how God knows our plans, and sometimes changes them because He has something better in mind for us. It is still frustrating at times when I look at my own plans I’ve made, like all the work I was going to get done in the office, and then have to give those up for the unknown.
But God is good, and every single time I’ve been in a situation like that, it turns out better than I could have even hoped.
